Hi All, I’m putting together a toddlers rocking chair for a friend of mine who is temporarily unable to work or play due to a stroke and I have agreed to help. He was in the middle of rebuilding a family treasure. The original chair was made from pine, the seat and crest rail failed so he made new ones. Not sure what he was thinking but he made the crest rail from cherry and the seat from Hickory. The old stain (1973) is an oil base that I am removing with BIX. Once complete, I will have three different types of wood that I need to stain to match each other. I have no idea how to make this happen and thought I would tap into the vast knowledge base here to see if anyone has a surefire method of making this happen. Please help – the sweetest little girl wants her “waaker” back. Thanks, Doug in AZ.

I’m pretty much a rookie at staining and have had mixed results myself, but what I do know is since different woods will absorb different amounts of stain, you will probably have the best results getting a match if you seal the wood with something clear and apply stain over that. Of course after sealing it, not much stain will stay on the surface so you may have to use some of the poly with stain added to the finish and build that up a few layers essentially applying a coloring over the wood rather than staining the wood itself. Or I could be totally wrong…

I would start with the pine and figure what will be needed to get it to the cherry,. Then the same for the hicory. Now you have three dfifferent woods that are close.Now you can pick the finished color.

you could also try polyshades by minwax, but that can be a real pain. I haven’t had luck with gel stains myself, but everyone else seems to love them. I probably did somethign wrong. is paint an option?

I know people don’t ussually like to paint stuff on here, especially their finest work, but this seems to be a good chance to try milk paint.

Thanks All, I think I’m going to take it all to bare wood and seal it with some bulleye, then go with a dark walnut stain. I’m hoping the sealer will allow the gel stain a chance to dry evenly. I should paint the darn thing and be done with it but I just can’t bring myself to make it look like one from Wal-mart, is that crazy?

I do appreciate all the comments and suggestions – it’s nice to know there are people out there to help when needed. Later, Doug in AZ.